Share this

Timeline

German Peasant Revolt

Dan Graves, MSL

When the peasants of Europe began to read the scriptures for
themselves during the Reformation, their ideas of justice started to
change. What right had feudal overlords to enslave and fleece them, who
were their equals in Christ?

Increasing resentment against the heavy exaction of the feudal
system, crop failure in Stühlingen, Germany, the writings of Luther
and new Bible-derived notions of the equality of man precipitated the
tragic Peasant's Revolt of 1524-1525. On this day,
August 24 1524, a leader named Hans Müller gathered a few
Stühlingen peasants around him. Calling themselves the
"Evangelical Brotherhood," these men swore to emancipate the
peasants of Germany.

Their twelve-point platform anticipated the liberties which would
actually be achieved throughout Christendom after many more years of
struggle. It was based on Zwingli's teachings. Among its demands were
the right for local congregations to choose and dismiss their pastors.
Tithes should be collected justly and used for the modest support of
pastors, the rest given to alleviate the poor. Serfdom must end; what
right did men have to hold other members of the Body of Christ in thrall
and work them like animals? The oppressive rents charged the peasants
must be eased. Death taxes must be eliminated, for they robbed widows
and orphans.

The peasants agreed to be corrected by scripture if any of their
demands should be shown to be in error. Luther at first took a middle
ground between the nobility and peasants, acknowledging that many of
their demands were just. However, little was done to remedy the
peasants' complaints. The violence which followed might have been
avoided if the masters had been willing to redress the serfs' grievances
in good faith. Led by men such as Thomas Muntzer, who wanted to
"destroy the godless," the peasants revolted. Luther became
frightened by the spreading rebellion and urged in violent terms that
the revolt be put down.

The war-skilled rulers crushed the revolt everywhere with great
cruelty. Over 100,000 peasants died and the misery of those who remained
worsened. The victors destroyed their farming implements and homes and
increased their tax burdens. As a consequence, the strongest groaned
under increased oppression and the weak simply perished. The peasant
revolt remains one of the sore spots in church history.

Bibliography:

Bainton, Roland H. Here I Stand; A life of Martin Luther.
New York: Mentor, 1962.

Durant, Will. The Reformation; A history of European
civilization from Wyclif to Calvin: 1300 - 1564. The Story of
Civilization, Part VI. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1957.

Friesen, Abraham. Thomas Muentzer, a Destroyer of the Godless;
the making of a sixteenth-century religious revolutionary.
Berkeley: University of California Press, 1990.

McGiffert, Arthur Cushman. Martin Luther, the man and his
work. New York: Century, 1911. Source of the image.